Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Sexual Assaults At Military Academies Up 60 Percent

Sex Assault Reports At Academy Up 60 Percent

Sexual assault reports at the Air Force Academy jumped nearly 60
percent during the last academic year while the prevalence of the crime
remained about the same, according to a new Defense Department study.
The results, which mirror the two other service institutions — the
Military Academy and the Naval Academy — signal greater victim
confidence but show that efforts to reduce sexual assaults among future
military leaders have been unsuccessful.
Air Force cadets made 52 sexual assault reports during the 2011-2012
year, up 58 percent from 33 in 2010-2011. They also accounted for 65
percent of the 80 reports made at all three academies, despite sim­ilar
student populations.
In 44 of the 80 reports, victims said they were victimized by a
fel­low cadet or midshipman, the study said. Twenty-five incidents
occurred on academy grounds.
Since sex assault is one of the most under-reported crimes, the
military has long relied on an anonymous survey to measure the rate of
such incidents, director of the DoD Sexual Assault Preven­tion and
Response Office Maj. Gen. Gary Patton said in a news conference with
reporters before the release of the report Dec. 21.
Fewer than 15 percent of sexual assault victims in a college
envi­ronment report the crime, accord­ing to the study. That number
stands at around 11 percent at the service academies.
At the Air Force Academy, far more are making reports — about 28
percent of victims, Col. Stella Renner, vice commandant of cul­ture and
climate, said in a tele­phone interview.
“While we hate to see we have sexual assaults, we are very proud we have a strong reporting cli­mate,” Renner said.
That shows cadets feel more comfortable asking for help after they
are victimized and that there is increased trust in the system, she
insisted.
“We’re seeing cases where vic­tims who have come forward in the past
are bringing in other people they know of who may have had a situation
they haven’t reported yet. Nobody’s going to tell on you. It’s private.
You can start healing and moving on,” Renner said.
Reporting has been on the uptick at all three academies since 2008
and increased by 23 percent overall from the last academic year, Patton
said.
“Any sexual assault is bad, and our goal is always to eliminate
sexual assault,” he said. “The more we know about the incidents that do
happen, the more we can help victims become survivors, [gain] insight
into what’s going on” and prosecute perpetrators.
But both Patton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta expressed concern
at what they described as a persistent problem and a lack of progress in
combating it.
“There is not enough progress in preventing sexual harassment and assaults,” Patton said.
In a memo, Panetta directed the institutions to find new ways to
“integrate sexual assault and harassment prevention into the full
spectrum of academy life and learning” and ordered them to report back
March 29.
The DoD report followed a year of high-profile sex scandals in the
military, from theresignation of CIA director and retired Army Gen.
David Petraeus to the inves­tigation of more than two dozen military
training instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

There was no statistical increase in incidents of sexual assault at
the Air Force Academy from 2010-2011, Renner said. Sexual harass­ment
decreased significantly there but remained unchanged at the Military and
Naval academies, the study showed.
Victims who did not make a report indicated in the anonymous survey
that they took care of the incident themselves, that they did not want
anyone to know about it and did not want people gossiping about what had
happened to them.
Those who chose to make a report said they needed help deal­ing with
an emotional event, that they wanted to stop the offender from hurting
others and that they wanted to see justice served.
Reports of sexual assaults fall into two categories: restricted and
unrestricted. Unrestricted reports involve law enforcement and the chain
of command of the victim and the accused. Restricted reports afford
victims privacy while making support services available to them.
Twenty-one of the 52 reports at the Air Force Academy were unre­stricted, Renner said.
She said the academy plans to study each of the reports. “We’ll
continue to work and see if there are other things we need to consid­er.
We look for trending informa­tion to see if there might be some­thing
we can do from a police [change], lights, locks on doors.” Next year,
the academy plans to begin bystander intervention train­ing. The
training teaches cadets how to identify potentially danger­ous
situations and intervene safely.
Teresa Beasley, sexual assault response coordinator at the Air Force
Academy, called it “a good way ahead. I think they want to help each
other,” she said of cadets. “This will give them the skills to do that.”
Beasley said the academy has worked hard to raise awareness around
campus. “Whenever you raise awareness, reports go up,” she said. “I
consider anyone that walks in a victory.” (By Kristin Davis)

About Me

I am a thoroughly civilized, humane, cosmopolitan, polished, restrained, enjoyable, entertaining Info-maniac. I am a staunch exponent of individual dignity, freedom, equal access to legal services, and equal protection of the law. Here I hope to demonstrate my emotional restraint, humbleness of sentiment, psychological subtlety, lucid style, and simple language, without evading political reality or eternal truth. Daily I am excited that I have the right to create the beginning of a new self and to challenge old habits and attitudes I no longer choose to accept. I choose to relax in the present with my direction firmly in mind. I have an enormous capacity for creative and clever ideas and thoughts. It is phenomenal what I can do. I am capable of so much learning and absorbing a lot of information. My potential is a source of pleasant surprise for me.
Each day, I increase in knowledge, skills, strength, faith, and abilities.With each adventure, the boundary hemming in my potential expands easily to accomodate my growth and achievements.